Mme Lee

The Divas had a mandatory 5 à 7 work event to discuss the growth of the company and other blah blah blah news. We work together, as do Bellatrix, Zeus, some of the cousins, A, P’tit Frère, Whitey, Peaches, etc. Even Mr. Wonderful works there, but he is a real employee, amongst other assorted friends and foe. So after our work event, which thankfully had cocktails, we couldn’t simply stop drinking on a Thursday, so we headed to Mme Lee’s. Bars that serve a few bites seem to be the new trend in Montreal’s drinking and dining scene and while Mme Lee’s isn’t really a restaurant per se, you can enjoy a few tapas with your cocktails, and that’s exactly what we did.

Located somewhere between downtown Montreal and the Plateau (we have no idea where these boroughs begin and end) most of our friends from work ended up at Mme Lee’s for some gossip and cocktails. Sadly it wasn’t a Tuesday where they are known for their 1$ oysters but we started drinking and soon didn’t care. Amongst other cocktails, we had their Bloody Caesar and their enjoyable Pimm’s Potager. The Pimm’s cocktail had Pimm’s, gin, angostura bitters, basil and lemon – a lovely refreshing cocktail that simply screamed SUMMER!

Whitey’s friend from out of town soon joined us and Diva #1 was quite miffed that she wasn’t drinking and asked her rather loudly if she was pregnant. This was meant to be a joke but she blushed and quietly exclaimed, “yes but I haven’t told Whitey yet.” Diva #1 certainly put her foot deep into her mouth… Whitey had heard the conversation and was shocked at the news. When will Diva #1 learn to shut up? To make matters worse, weeks later Diva #1 was with Whitey and her friends (including the preggo one) at another restaurant, and she chose to relay this story in amusement. Unfortunately not everyone in that group was privy to the news yet! Needless to say we don’t think that Whitey’s preggo friend is particularly fond of loudmouth Diva #1.

“Macaroni au fromage de style Cajun” 9$

After a few cocktails we started with the mac n’ cheese that was made à la Cajun style. We were rather impressed; the cheesy sauce had some type of Creole seasoning that gave it a smoky/spicy flavour. There was cheese shredded on top and plenty of cheese sauce enveloping the macaroni. It arrived rather deconstructed with green onions, lardons, tomatoes, and breadcrumbs on the side, you could add as much as you wanted and we added plenty. It was a good mac n’ cheese dish that was concocted in a unique fashion, and also inexpensive. It even came with baguette crisps so that you can scoop up the extra cheese sauce when you were done with the macaroni.

“Plateau de fromages du Québec” 20$

There were two hard cheeses, a Louis D’Or and a Riopelle de L’Isle. The Louis D’Or is a harder cow’s milk from Quebec which is nutty in flavour. The riopelle cheese is another Quebec cheese that has a buttery mushroom taste, we loved it too. The house made goat cheese was a soft goat cheese, similar to a Diva favourite, cendrillon goat cheese. It was delightful, we were quite pleased to hear that the goat cheese was made in house and was so flavourful. And the last was a blue cheese from Quebec, called a Bleu d’Elizabeth, a pungent and delicious cheese that the Divas adored. The cheese platter was rather impressive, and we were pleased that one of the cheeses was made in-house. The cheese plate also came with baguette crisps, a fruit purée, mixed nuts and black olives; all perfectly paired with the cheeses.

“Figues farcies, émulsion Harissa et roquette” 8$

The stuffed figs sounded promising but did not wow us. They were decent, but we are snobs and have had some absolutely amazing stuffed fig dishes. The Harissa emulsion on the side was a nice addition to the citrusy stuffed figs that sat speared on top of an orange wedge. Harissa is a Middle Eastern roasted pepper paste that is known for its spicy kick. This was a nice combination with the sweet figs. The arugula salad was also citrusy, this time with hints of lemon and the arugula provided a peppery addition to the sweet figs.

“Tacos du jour” 12$

Whitey and her preggo friend ordered the taco of the day which on this day happened to be pulled pork. It wasn’t too bad, plenty of meat, but there should have been other ingredients like more cheese or some sour cream. Instead the taco was overstuffed with shredded iceberg lettuce and chopped chives. We should have tried their lobster roll or either their beef or salmon tartare, they had been recommended by friends who have gone to Mme Lee’s.

So the Montreal bar trend has been to add a few gourmet bites to their menu. The idea is that as you drink and feel that tinge of hunger and instead of moving on elsewhere you order a bite and keep on drinking. These bars with some dishes are not restaurants per say but gourmet drinkeries, if that makes any sense at all. So try out Mme Lee’s, it is modern and trendy, and all the cool kids are going there!